R-Class (W251) Produced 2006-2013: R320CDI, R350, R420CDI, R500

Why we ALMOST bought an R... decontenting

Old Nov 1, 2007 | 10:07 PM
  #1  
201mph's Avatar
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From: Lake Norman, NC
C63, GL450, Panamera S, lots of little British leakers
Unhappy Why we ALMOST bought an R... decontenting

I'm tired of ungainly SUV's and "minivan" is a 4 letter word in our house, but we now need 3 rows of seats, and we find the E and 5er wagons to be on the smallish side.

Coming from a QX56 and a last-generation X5, I drove a couple of R's and was quite impressed. Though "unique" looking, I liked the ride and handling much better then the ML/GL. I thought this would be the answer, and the dealer is able to locate an available new R320cdi with everything I wanted in the right colors.

So, I brought the wife to drive one. Three of her friends have R's, and all really like them. However, one commented to her, "It doesnt feel very luxurious".

Once she got past the manual tilt steering wheel, the manual folding third row seats, the unavailability of drive dynamic seats like her CLS had, and no trailering provision, the R was pretty much out of consideration.

Never mind that the R350 she drove could barely get out of its own way.

Instead, she chose a leftover GL450, which has power all of that and much more. Another damn big SUV... all because MB, (or MBUSA) has decontented the R class so much, that it now makes very little pretense of being a "luxury" car.

Crap. I was really looking forward to the R.

However, I do know of a couple of R63's for sale... that's be sweet revenge, wouldnt it?

Last edited by 201mph; Nov 2, 2007 at 07:41 AM.
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Old Nov 1, 2007 | 10:28 PM
  #2  
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Eurocharged 2004 E500, Eurocharged ECU/TCU 2005 SL600, 2010 Caddy SwaggerWagon
Originally Posted by 201mph
I'm tired of ungainly SUV's and "minivan" is a 4 letter word in our house, but we now need 3 rows of seats, and we find the E and 5er wagons to be on the smallish side.

Coming from a QX56 and a last-generation X5, I drove a couple of R's and was quite impressed. Though "unique" looking, I liked the ride and handling much better then the ML/GL. I thought this would be the answer, and the dealer is able to locate an available new R320cdi with everything I wanted in the right colors.

So, I brought the wife to drive one. Three of her friends have R's, and all really like them. However, one commented to her, "It doesnt feel very luxurious".

Once she got past the manual tilt steering wheel, the manual folding third row seats, the unavailability of lumbar support "active" seats like her CLS had, and no trailering provision, the R was pretty much out of consideration.

Never mind that the R350 she drove could barely get out of its own way.

Instead, she chose a leftover GL450, which has power all of that and much more. Another damn big SUV... all because MB, (or MBUSA) has decontented the R class so much, that it now makes very little pretense of being a "luxury" car.

Crap. I was really looking forward to the R.

However, I do know of a couple of R63's for sale... that's be sweet revenge, wouldnt it?
Should've at looked at pre-owned R500's. Ours has more than enough oomph, it's downright quick. It has a power tilt steering wheel and lumbar support. Although, it doesn't have the drive dynamic seats like my E500 has. And yes, the manual 3rd row does kind of suck but how often would you really be putting it up and down?

Either way, congrats on your GL. I believe it won Motor Trend's SUV of the year last year.
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Old Nov 2, 2007 | 07:40 AM
  #3  
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From: Lake Norman, NC
C63, GL450, Panamera S, lots of little British leakers
Originally Posted by Benz-O-Rama
Should've at looked at pre-owned R500's. It has a power tilt steering wheel and lumbar support. Although, it doesn't have the drive dynamic seats. And yes, the manual 3rd row does kind of suck but how often would you really be putting it up and down?
Thanks, we did. She's had two back fusions, and continuing disc issues, so those were important features to her. Wasn't the lumbar support driver side only?
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Old Nov 2, 2007 | 11:22 AM
  #4  
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From: Montclair, NJ
12 E550
R is actually considerably bigger than the GL

GL
Length: 200.6 in. Width: 75.6 in.
Height: 72.4 in. Wheel Base: 121.1 in.
Ground Clearance: 7.9 in. Curb Weight: 5280 lbs.
Gross Weight: 6461 lbs.
Interior
Front Head Room: 40.1 in. Front Shoulder Room: 58.3 in.
Rear Head Room: 40.6 in. Rear Shoulder Room: 58.9 in.
Front Leg Room: 40.3 in. Rear Leg Room: 39.5 in.
Luggage Capacity: 14.3 cu. ft. Maximum Cargo Capacity: 83 cu. ft.
Maximum Seating: 7
R- Class
Length: 203 in. Width: 75.7 in.
Height: 65.2 in. Wheel Base: 126.6 in.
Ground Clearance: 5.8 in.
Interior
Front Shoulder Room: 60.3 in. Rear Shoulder Room: 59.6 in.
Front Leg Room: 39.8 in. Rear Leg Room: 36.2 in.
Luggage Capacity: 15.3 cu. ft. Maximum Cargo Capacity: 85 cu. ft.
Maximum Seating: 7
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Old Nov 3, 2007 | 01:51 AM
  #5  
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2008 R350 & 2008 C300
Wow..****** up an R63! Those were built by special order only meaning they were sold before they were built from my understanding.
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Old Nov 12, 2007 | 11:24 PM
  #6  
Storybook's Avatar
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G63
Originally Posted by chilledbenz
Wow..****** up an R63! Those were built by special order only meaning they were sold before they were built from my understanding.
Do you know where one exists??
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Old Nov 13, 2007 | 08:04 PM
  #7  
201mph's Avatar
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From: Lake Norman, NC
C63, GL450, Panamera S, lots of little British leakers
Quite recently, there was a lightly used (LOL) black one in New York and a silver one in southern New England, new with demo miles.

Today, both listings are gone... havent called either dealer back to see if they were sold, though.
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Old Nov 15, 2007 | 11:41 PM
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2008 R350 & 2008 C300
Originally Posted by kuzi
Do you know where one exists??
I was refering to 201mph, he said he knew of a couple, but I guess now they are gone. Ha ha demo miles on an AMG would be like putting 10k on a stocker lmao. I saw a R500 with the AMG sport package that looked identical to the R63, minus the fun factory under the hood. Shame they dropped both the R500 and the AMG sport package.
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